Until that smile returns
by Umeko Tsumagoi
Summary: Upon waking from the Neo World Program, in a body that at one point wasn't his, Hinata works on a way to bring back those that were lost - because there are more than just those ten lives depending on him for it. Canon-compliant Kuzuhina.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** HAPPY BIRTHDAY HINATA!

I was wondering what it would be like if I tried to write canon-compliant Kuzuhina... and this is the result I guess? Ummm yeah haha.

Oh man I didn't get nearly as much of this polished up as I wanted, so I've had to split it into two parts in order to get it up in time for Hinata's birthday... but the next part should be up within a week? I'll take the time to have my beta check the rest before it goes up, since this chapter is SUPER unbetaed ahaha.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Until that smile returns**

His first thought as he began to regain consciousness was a slightly panicked, _who am I?!_

It was a relief to find that yes, he _did_ identify himself as Hajime Hinata, even as his eyes opened to a curtain of dark hair that he distinctly felt shouldn't be there.

He raised his hand upwards to find that the movement occurred much quicker than he imagined it would; he only barely managed to keep from smashing his hand against the cover of his pod by pulling back just as quickly. It was as if his synapses were firing at speeds far beyond what he was accustomed to—and as soon as that thought occurred to him, he realized that that was precisely what was happening.

He had woken up with the mind, memories, and consciousness of Hajime Hinata, but his body retained all the physical modifications that had made him Izuru Kamukura.

Hinata stared ahead as he processed that revelation, and the hazy, frosted reflection of Kamukura's red eyes stared back at him. He had chosen to wake up again, but if everything the Kamukura Project had done to him remained, did it make any difference? Slowly, painfully slowly, he tried raising his hand again, and even before his fingertips could brush the glass cover, he knew exactly how it would feel. He knew precisely which tactile sensations to expect, could predict the exact coolness against his skin.

With his palm pressed against the glass, his immediate, stomach-churning thought was, _how boring._

He stayed rooted where he was, without bothering to push the pod open. He had decided to live as Hajime Hinata, but he still possessed the groundwork for the Ultimate Hope; if he stepped out of that pod, what was stopping him from relapsing back into Izuru Kamukura?

His thoughts moved in a whirlwind far too fast for him to make much sense of, but before long he managed to grab hold of a single concrete idea:

Whatever talents he had, he needed to redirect them outward, to make himself useful. Perhaps that would stave off the boredom that caused Kamukura to fall to despair.

He wasn't sure if it would work, but Hajime Hinata was willing to give it a try.

With his mind finally made up, he pushed the cover open and sat up to look around. There were fourteen other pods in the room, silent and still, and for a moment he worried that perhaps he was alone. Maybe he was the only one who retained memories of the Neo World Program. Maybe he was the only one to wake up at all.

Then, four other pods were pushed open.

There was a sense of unfamiliarity when he saw the four individuals sit up—they were older than he expected to see them, their faces drawn and haggard. The difference wasn't as significant as his own appearance must have been, but it was enough to be a bit unsettling.

But their expressions mirrored his own feelings of apprehension, and he was relieved—his friends had come back with him.

He smiled softly, a strange pulling of muscles that felt like they hadn't been used in years.

* * *

"I really hate to spring such a huge decision on you when you've just woken up," Makoto Naegi said as the five of them ate their first meal.

The food wasn't that great—prepackaged microwave meals, a far cry from what they had eaten at Hotel Mirai, even after Hanamura's execution. But it still caused their mouths to water (especially Owari's), driving home the fact that, yes, their real bodies had gone quite a while without food.

"If we do go with you," Kuzuryu said between bites, "what does that mean for us?"

Naegi grimaced a bit, and after glancing at his two comrades, who offered no support, he sighed and turned back to the survivors. "For the five of you, it's possible that you'll be spared. The rehabilitation does seem to have worked, after all, even though it was... unauthorized use of the technology. But for the rest..." He sighed. "They'd probably be pulled from life support immediately, or worse. Munakata-san is, um..." He trailed off, laughing bashfully. "Well, let's say he doesn't spare much mercy for Despairs..."

"Well isn't it pretty obvious that we're gonna stay?!" Souda cried. "Like we're gonna hand over everyone else to just be killed off! You can't even guarantee that _we'll_ be kept alive!"

Naegi laughed bashfully again. "That's true. And that's sort of the answer I expected..."

There was silence for a moment, before Sonia spoke up. "Naegi-san, if I may ask... if that is the option we choose, what will happen to you?"

Naegi cringed. "Um, well... I'll have to answer to charges of treason. But I'm pretty sure that would happen either way, so don't worry about it."

Sonia didn't seem completely convinced. "But if you returned without us, that would simply bring even greater charges against you, would it not?"

An even more grim atmosphere fell upon the small gathering.

After clearing his throat nervously, Naegi answered. "Ah, I don't want you to worry about that..."

"But that's just messed up!" Souda pointed an accusatory finger at Kirigiri and Togami, standing to the side with their gazes averted. "And isn't there anything you two can do to help this kid?!"

"Unfortunately, we aren't seeing or hearing any of this." Togami pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "This is all Naegi's doing, so he's on his own."

Kuzuryu slapped his hand on the table and stood up, fuming. "So you're just going to stand there and take let him take the brunt of the punishment, just to save your own skins?!"

"Exactly," Kirigiri said coolly. "We cannot afford to lose our positions in the organization." She paused for a moment, watching Kuzuryu and Souda seethe in anger, before smirking. "After all, Naegi-kun will need friends in high places to help him out during the inevitable hearings."

Naegi smiled weakly. "So, really, it's fine. Don't let my actions affect your decision."

Owari finally took a break from stuffing her face with food. "How about Hinata decides, then?"

"What, me?" Hinata hadn't been fully paying attention, staring instead at his chopsticks as if they were held between fingers that didn't belong to him, but hearing his name pulled him back into the discussion. "Why me?"

"'Cause you always led us to the right answers during the trials," she said simply. "So I think you'll choose the right answer this time too, right?"

"That's not exactly..."

"No, I agree that you should get Hinata-kun's input here," Naegi agreed. "I mean... he's probably the one who's best equipped to bring your classmates back. So if you do stay, Hinata-kun, do you have a plan?"

Hinata sighed, self-consciously tucking his far-too-long hair behind his ear. He really would need to cut it as soon as possible. "I... have some ideas, maybe? I mean, I'm not Kamukura, so I don't really know things... but I still _know_ things, if that makes sense. So if I can use that, I feel like I might be able to bring everyone else back... possibly." He grimaced down at the tabletop. "I can't make any promises, of course, but if I could have the opportunity to try..."

"Then we're staying," Kuzuryu declared with finality. "If Hinata's got a plan, let him try it out."

The other survivors gave a chorus of agreement.

Naegi, despite essentially being promised a harsher punishment at that moment, gave a genuine smile. "I was really hoping you'd say that. In that case, I think you should have this, too." He reached into his breast pocket and extracted a small object, placing it in the middle of the table.

Curious, Hinata picked it up to see that it was a thumb drive, and the four other survivors leaned over to take a look as well. "What is this?"

"It's something I'm returning to you... or, well, it was Kamukura-kun who brought it in, so I suppose you're receiving it for the first time."

"Something Kamukura brought in?" As Hinata shifted the drive in his hands curiously before it dawned on him. "Hold on, you don't mean..."

"Right." Naegi nodded. "That's the Alter Ego Enoshima program—or what's left of it after it was destroyed."

The other four promptly backed away. "The hell are you giving him that for?!" Kuzuryuu shouted.

"I don't even want to _hear_ the name Enoshima ever again!" Souda agreed.

"Relax," Naegi said placatingly. "Like I said, it's been destroyed. But I thought that Hinata-kun should have it if he plans to try to wake up the others. It might be useful to him—or it might not be. If it's not useful, he can just toss it into the ocean."

Hinata gripped the thumb drive tightly in his hand. "No—I think I can use this, somehow. I'm not entirely sure, but that's what my instinct is telling me, at least." He grinned. "Thanks, Naegi."

* * *

All five of them had lost people important to them during the killing school trip, though the degrees of importance varied, of course.

Even though Hinata still wasn't entirely cognizant of what was needed to awaken his classmates, he at least knew that he needed to stick around the research center where they slept—so he took note of anyone who came by to visit.

Owari would very occasionally drop in to check on Nidai, but most of the time she was out and about—usually running laps around the island, according to Souda.

"I've gotta keep on top of my training if I wanna beat the old man when he wakes up!" she would say.

Before he could stop himself, Hinata retorted with, "He'll be weak enough for anyone to beat when he first wakes up."

"Don't you dare underestimate Old Man Nidai!" was Owari's only response before jetting out the door.

Sonia stopped by a bit more frequently, to see how Tanaka was doing. "There is just so little for me to do to help," she told Hinata, smiling apologetically. "I cannot help checking in, but it's painful to stand and watch knowing that that is all I can do."

"You could help me keep the machines from overheating!" Souda quickly cut in. "Or make me snacks to fuel my brain? Handmade snacks by Sonia-san...!"

"I think I will explore the library," Sonia quickly decided.

"Oh, if you're going there—" Hinata called out, stopping her. "Would you mind checking for some books for me?" He bumbled through vague descriptions of subjects he was hoping to find documentation on—he had found that while the practical skills were hardwired into his subconscious, he completely lacked the technical knowledge and terminology to verbalize them.

Sonia tilted her head inquisitively. "So you are looking for books on clinical neuropsychology, trauma rehabilitation, and... assembly language?"

"Yes," Hinata breathed, thankful for the princess' vast sea of random knowledge. "Yes, that sounds about right." He paused before casually adding, "And after you're done that, we probably _will_ be getting kind of hungry over here, so if you want, some snacks would be nice..."

Once Sonia was out the door, eager to take on her missions, Souda wrapped Hinata in a bone-crushing hug, tears of gratitude soaking through his shirt.

Then there was Kuzuryu.

It seemed like whenever Hinata peeked in on his sleeping classmates, more often than not Kuzuryu was sitting beside Pekoyama's pod, lost to the rest of the world as he stared down at her lifeless body.

Hinata wasn't exactly sure how long Kuzuryu spent there on a daily basis, since his focus was directed elsewhere—Sonia had ended up bringing back thirty heavy tomes from the library, and poring through them was an intensive chore. Every once in a while, though, he'd be pulled from his concentration when Kuzuryu passed behind him, either entering or exiting the facility. So the yakuza didn't spend _all_ of his time in there, at least, which was good.

Hinata was pretty sure Pekoyama wouldn't want him to let his life waste away sitting at her side, after all.

Still, it was somewhat worrying, and Hinata found himself trying to keep tabs on Kuzuryu, to always be aware of his location as best he could while decrypting a heavily-fragmented Alter Ego program. If nothing else, he could confirm that Kuzuryu never stayed in the research center any later than Hinata did, and he never arrived any earlier.

As Hinata finished up one night, however, he checked in on the room just to make sure everything was in order, expecting it to all be the same as it had for the two weeks he'd been there.

When he saw a figure sitting next to Pekoyama's pod in the darkness, he knew exactly who it was.

Sighing, Hinata stepped into the room and walked over to him. "Kuzuryu, it's late," he said. "You should go to bed..."

He trailed off as he arrived at the yakuza heir's side.

Kuzuryu was fast asleep where he sat.

Hinata's initial thought was to wake him so that he could sleep in a proper bed, but he hesitated. It was so rare for any of them to fall into a restful sleep since they returned from the killing game—Kuzuryu was honestly probably better off staying there and sleeping away the night as he was.

But sitting in the chair like that all night was sure to leave him chilled in the morning. So, after considering his options, Hinata returned to his work station and retrieved a blanket he had wrapped himself in during an all-nighter a few days earlier.

Careful not to rouse the slumbering gangster, Hinata draped the blanket over his shoulders, and then quietly tip-toed out of the facility.

When he returned early the next morning, Kuzuryu was gone, and the blanket had been placed at his desk, folded carefully as if to erase any evidence that anyone had used it the night before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:** HAPPY BIRTHDAY HINATA... AGAIN!

So here's the second part of the fanfic that I had intended to post in full for his birthday LAST year... and no, I have not had my beta go over this chapter either! My notes on the first chapter are just full of lies, I admit it!

Quick note, I make reference in this chapter to something from the SDR2 stage play which wasn't in the game. It's not a big thing, I just want to stave off any confusion before it occurs!

And without further ado, here is the second half of this fanfiction, finally. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Until that smile returns  
part 2**

* * *

For weeks, Hinata had known that once the recovery program was finalized, Pekoyama would be the first one he would use it on. There wasn't any question in his mind.

* * *

Kuzuryu was generally pretty good about pretending that he didn't idle around the research center so much—he attended their communal breakfasts and dinners more often than Hinata himself did, and he made his way back to his cottage most nights.

But Hinata had taken to checking the observation room several times a day—for no practical reason, really, because he was far from achieving any observable results—and, nine times out of ten, Kuzuryu was there.

Part of him wanted to chase Kuzuryu away, to encourage him to do more with his time than sit at a comatose girl's bedside, but he wasn't honestly sure if that would be the right option. He knew that it would make Kuzuryu angry in the short term—but when the Kamukura part of his brain instinctively started unraveling the long-term effects, he panicked and put a stop to that train of thought. Whatever decision he made, he wanted it to be a product of Hajime Hinata's judgment.

Besides... he actually rather liked having him there. Kuzuryu himself was a physical reminder that Hinata's work was actually going to mean something, that it was truly important to at least one other person.

There were more than just those ten lives depending on him.

As the days passed, Hinata found himself progressing from quick glances to short strolls along the perimeter of the room, keeping careful distance from Kuzuryu as if he were a stray cat that would be scared away. It was an amusing analogy, but after some thought, Hinata decided it was surprisingly apt; like a feral cat sitting just outside an apartment, seeking nothing more than temporary shelter from the elements, Kuzuryu's silent, aloof presence was a comforting one, even with a wall separating them.

Gradually, Hinata started taking longer walks through the room, weaving between the pods to check on his classmates' conditions—and inevitably passing carefully by Kuzuryu's chair from time to time.

It was a delicate sort of dance, inching closer to Kuzuryu's chair day by day, careful not to cross any boundaries. But there was always that growing desire to offer some sort of comfort, to try and endear the stray into accepting human warmth.

And then, one day a few weeks into the routine, as Hinata passed by Pekoyama's pod, he felt compelled to finally reach out.

So he patted Kuzuryu's head.

Instantly the yakuza reacted, whipping his hand up so as to capture Hinata's wrist, but Hinata reacted with a swiftness that sent his consciousness reeling and easily evaded his grasp.

The two boys stared at each other for several moments, Hinata feeling confused and flustered even as Kuzuryu's one visible eye burned with a strange sort of apprehensive ferocity.

"Uh... sorry," Hinata muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I'm not sure why I did that."

Kuzuryu narrowed his eye, then scoffed as he turned back towards Pekoyama. "Whatever. I don't really care."

Behind him, Hinata shifted on his feet awkwardly. "That didn't seem like not caring."

"Well, it was. Go ahead and try it again if you don't believe me."

Hinata hesitated, but with a shrug, he reached out and patted Kuzuryu's blond head again, fingertips brushing the strap of his eyepatch.

"I wasn't fucking serious!" Kuzuryu screeched, cheeks burning redder than usual.

Hinata laughed, but he didn't regret it. On the contrary, he was a bit glad to see that his friend wasn't losing his edge.

* * *

It became sort of a custom, after that, for Hinata to come into the observation room at various points in the day, walking around, passing by Kuzuryu's seat, and patting his head. Every single time, Kuzuryu would yell at him, or glower darkly, or mutter curses underneath his breath. But after a while, his reactions seemed to be growing gentler, less violent.

It seemed that the ornery cat was gradually warming up to human touch, Hinata thought, mirth flooding his chest.

He wouldn't ever dare say that out loud, of course.

Eventually, Kuzuryu began wandering elsewhere in the facility too, away from Pekoyama, and occasionally idling by Hinata's side. Once or twice he asked Hinata for details on his work.

"Umm, I'm not exactly sure how to explain it," Hinata said, smiling nervously. "I know how to do this, but don't know that I know it... I guess? It's like the theory is just sewn into my body somehow, and it's being put into practice on autopilot."

"If you don't wanna talk about it, just fucking say so," Kuzuryu grumbled.

Hinata laughed. "No, I'm telling the truth! But let's see... You know how if you try pouring out a can of soup, most of it will come out, but there are still some bits and pieces stuck to the inside?"

Kuzuryu wrinkled his freckled nose in disgust. "Great analogy."

"I'm doing the best I can, here," Hinata said with a sigh. "So in that same way, there are fragments of everyone left over, even though they've been deleted. Basically, I'm trying to find those pieces, analyze them, and use that information to recreate the entire soup again."

"Huh." Kuzuryu leaned on the back of Hinata's chair, staring at the computer screen full of code. "Is there enough information to make anything meaningful of it, though? Can you really get down the specifics?"

Hinata was silent for a bit, considering his answer as he stared at the code that his friends' lives hinged upon. "That... will depend on our classmates, I think. I'm sure I _will_ end up with a lot of junk data, and I'm working on something to help eliminate the parts that don't fit, but beyond that it's up to them to return to who they were before."

"So it might not even work."

Alarmed by the dejected tone in Kuzuryu's voice, Hinata swiftly turned his gaze up toward him. "No, that's not... well," he paused, stopping himself from making guarantees that he might not be able to uphold. The truth was that he _wasn't_ entirely sure if he'd be able to succeed. "I'll do my best," he said carefully, "and, well, we've got a better chance this way than if we surrendered to the Future Foundation, at least."

Kuzuryu's only response was a noncommittal grunt.

Hinata thoughtfully tapped at his keyboard, too lightly to register any keystrokes, before continuing. "I could probably ensure a better chance of success if I let the Kamukura in me take over completely..."

"Who the hell would ask that of you, dumbass?" Kuzuryu scoffed as he stood up straight again, releasing his weight from Hinata's chair.

A smile tugged at the corners of Hinata's lips. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

He heard Kuzuryu's shoes lightly scuff the linoleum floor as he turned to leave, and after a moment's thought, Hinata spoke up again. "Hey, Kuzuryu?"

The yakuza's footfalls stopped. "What is it?"

"I said that it would be up to our classmates to come back as themselves, right?" He glanced over the back of his chair towards him. "It's true that there are a lot of variables at play here, but if there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that Pekoyama will do _everything_ in her power to return to you."

For a long moment, Kuzuryu was silent. Finally, he started walking again, but there was a distinct fondness in his tone when he spoke. "You think I don't know that? Dumbass."

* * *

Hinata knew that his code was messy and ugly; he suspected that he thought too hard about what he was building, that he was too resistant to falling back on his Kamukura instincts. But it wasn't like he was intending to market the program at any point, so cleaning up the code wasn't a priority. As long as it still worked as intended for him and his classmates, the excessively long compiling times weren't an issue.

Besides, it gave him time to relax, to rest his cramping fingers—and as the compiling times grew longer with the program creeping closer to completion, he and Kuzuryu took to spending the time chatting. Even when the silent nighttime chill fell upon the research center, Kuzuryu would often stick around, sitting close to offer Hinata warm companionship.

If Hinata were being perfectly honest, maybe that gave him even less incentive to clean up his code.

"You know," he said on a whim one night, during a lull in conversation, "why do you hate me patting your head so much?"

Kuzuryu scoffed. "Why shouldn't I hate it? You're fucking weird for wanting to pat another guy's head."

"You patted my head before."

Kuzuryu bristled. "No I didn't!"

"You did," Hinata insisted, grinning. "Remember, when Komaeda—"

"No! That never happened!"

Hinata put on a show of going into deep thought. "Huh... then maybe some of us _did_ lose some memories of the Neo World Program? I might need to go back and make some adjustments to my calculations now..."

"Don't bother doing that to yourself!" Kuzuryu shouted without missing a beat. "I didn't lose any memories, it just never happened, all right?"

Hinata laughed lightly. "All right. I'll take your word for it, then."

They fell into companionable silence then, surrounded only by the sound of whirring computer fans.

"It's not my head that's the issue," Kuzuryu said finally, quietly. "It's my eye."

Hinata turned to look at him. "Your eye?"

Kuzuryu raised a hand to gingerly touch his eyepatch. "This one. I'm just... I haven't even had the guts to look at it what's under here myself yet, you know? I don't like thinking of what might be there... or if it's even still _my_ eye." He lowered his hand again and pulled his arms around him, shuddering. "So I guess I'm just kinda jumpy about anyone getting too close to touching that area."

"I see." They fell into silence again, Hinata leaning just slightly into Kuzuryu's arm as a show of comfort. "You know," he said a moment later, "I have an eye that I'm not sure belongs to me, either."

"What, because it's red?" Kuzuryu huffed. "That's not the same."

"It's not exactly the same, but it's not entirely different either." Hinata stared down at his hands. "Actually, I don't even feel like my _entire body_ is my own, most of the time."

Kuzuryu peered up at him curiously. "But it _is_ your body. You were Hajime Hinata at the start, and now you're him again. Kamukura was the one who didn't belong."

Hinata chuckled; it was encouraging to hear someone tell him point-blank that he was always meant to be Hajime Hinata. "Thanks. But still, it just feels like my body changed too much to be familiar. I do feel like I'm slowly regaining ownership of it, but at the same time, it seems like there's a limit to what I can reclaim." He tapped his right cheek, just below his eye. "When we first woke up, this one was red too. But it started changing almost immediately, and it was back to its original color after about a week. It was like I was becoming Hajime Hinata again... and then it stopped." He smiled grimly. "The left eye hasn't changed back at all. Maybe there's a limit to how much of me can be me again."

"Hey." Kuzuryu pointed firmly at Hinata, commanding his undivided attention, his expression stern. "You _are_ Hajime Hinata. Even if that eye of yours never turns back, you're still one hundred percent you."

Hinata smiled softly. "That applies to you too, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, the irony wasn't lost on me." Kuzuryu sighed and relaxed back into his sitting position. "Hey, Hinata?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you check what's under this eyepatch for me?"

Hinata whipped his head towards Kuzuryu fast enough that he worried it might fly off his neck. "What?!"

"Don't tell me what's under there." Kuzuryu frowned, clearly toeing the edge of his comfort zone with his request. "I don't wanna know if that's... someone else's eye under there or not. But I feel like... the truth shouldn't be hidden. It's just... I hate to admit it, but I don't have the courage to be the one to uncover it for myself yet."

Hinata still had difficulty processing what was being asked of him. Kuzuryu's request... put a huge amount of responsibility on him. But it also expressed a huge amount of trust, too. "Are you really okay with me being the one to look?"

"Who else would I ask?"

A strange warmth filled Hinata's chest; Kuzuryu really did trust him that much.

 _He's only asking you because Pekoyama can't._

Hinata shook away that ugly thought and focused on the task at hand instead. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll do it. So do you want me to... look right now, or...?"

Kuzuryu raised an eyebrow. "Well shit, it's not like we need to prepare some sort of ceremony for it. Go ahead and lift the patch."

"Right." Hinata's hands were sweating—why did this feel so intimate?—so he wiped them off on his trousers before raising his left hand towards Kuzuryu's face.

Kuzuryu let his eye fall half-lidded, making him appear almost serene, even as he jumped in response to fingertips brushing his cheek. Hinata paused at the edge of the eyepatch, waiting patiently; the yakuza quickly grounded himself with a deep breath, and once he had stilled again, Hinata flipped the patch up.

Like his left one, Kuzuryu's right eye was half-closed, giving Hinata a good look at a large scar marring the eyelid, stretching vertically between cheek and brow. The eye itself was cloudy and dull, clearly incapable of vision...

And it was colored a pale cauliflower blue.

Hinata felt his stomach churn. It was incredibly surreal to be looking at the face of one of his closest friends, superimposed with the gaze of what he knew must have been Junko Enoshima.

He took a deep breath. "You can't see out of this eye, right?"

"Doesn't look like it."

"Yeah, it's—"

"Don't tell me what it looks like." Kuzuryu's expression hardened.

"Right." Hinata gulped, unsure of what exactly he was _supposed_ to say. Was there any way to express encouragement, to insist that Kuzuryu was still himself, without giving away what Hinata saw under his patch?

Kuzuryu took a deep breath and let his eyes fall closed completely, apparently reaching the limits of his comfort. "Okay, that's enough. Put it back now."

"Oh, sure." Gently, Hinata placed the eyepatch in its original position.

Then, just as easily as taking a breath, he leaned forward and placed a light kiss upon the patch.

Hinata froze. The action had come so naturally to him— _too_ naturally. He hadn't even thought about what he was doing, but there he was, lips brushing against the fabric of his friend's eyepatch.

He pulled back as quickly as he could while trying to maintain his cool. Had Kuzuryu noticed? He peered at the shorter boy; his eyes were still closed, and he didn't seem to be reacting. Had the kiss been so gentle that he hadn't even felt it?

"Um, I'm done now," Hinata said, settling back into his sitting position even as the fluttering in his stomach refused to be tamed.

Kuzuryu gave a grunt of understanding and opened his eye again. "Thank god that's over. So what are you up to now?"

"The compiler's almost done, so I should probably get back to work," Hinata said, pulling the keyboard back in his direction, eager for a distraction. "I'm on the verge of making this breakthrough, and I don't want to leave until then. You can go get some sleep if you want."

"You've become a real workaholic, " Kuzuryu mumbled, but he didn't move to leave.

Hinata never made that breakthrough that night, and at some point he had had fallen asleep on his keyboard. But when he woke up to five hundred lines of semicolons and an angry barrage of syntax errors, Kuzuryu was slumbering against his side, so somehow it didn't seem like that much of a failure.

* * *

For weeks, Hinata had known that once the recovery program was finalized, Pekoyama would be the first one he would use it on. It wasn't any sort of favoritism on his part, really; there wasn't any question that of the bonds broken by the killing school trip, her bond with Kuzuryu had been the strongest. No one would object to mending that one first.

Then, at the very last moment, Hinata changed his mind. Instead of Pekoyama, he activated his completed program on the Ultimate Imposter, because his leadership skills would be an asset on the island as the rest began to wake up, and it only made sense to revive the first fatality first, right?

And though they were all genuinely elated to see the program successfully bring back one of their friends, Hinata simultaneously felt awful.

He was afraid of how bringing back Pekoyama would affect his relationship with Kuzuryu. He had let his emotions affect his logic, and he had acted so selfishly as a result. It was terrible, it was unfair, and the guilt was eating him from the inside.

So, instead, Peko Pekoyama was the second to wake up.

Seeing the way that Kuzuryu smiled as she stepped out of the pod, as if the sun had finally risen again after a long night wrought with nightmares... Regardless of what it meant for Hinata, that sight made it all worth it.

* * *

 **Notes:** Yes, that's the end. It's not totally happy, but it's the ending I've had planned from the start!

I may someday post a sort of mid-quel told from Souda's point of view, though... *eyes emoji*


End file.
